


Road Trip Time, c’mon grab your friends!

by orphan_account



Category: Adventure Time
Genre: A little angst, Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - High School, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Alternate Universe - Road Trip, Awkward Romance, Canon Lesbian Relationship, Drama, Eventual Romance, F/F, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Lesbian Sex, Marceline needs a hug, Marijuana, Masturbation, Oral Sex, Poorly planned road trip, Recreational Drug Use, Sexual Content, Slow Burn, That one adorable ferris wheel trope, actually everyone needs a hug but hey thats teens, catnip for the gays, finn definitely listens to the lumineers, i’ll tag as i go, ya know when i said a little angst i actually meant A LOT
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-07-24
Updated: 2020-11-25
Packaged: 2021-03-04 22:20:25
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 10
Words: 12,919
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25483837
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: Bonnie is dreading business school, Finn and Jake are going to be on opposite sides of the country and Marcy still has no clue what to do next. The youngins end up on a road trip from New Jersey to California as long-time friends Marceline and Bonnibel start to confront their feelings for one another... hijinks ensue as Finn, Jake and the girls try not to get lost on the long way to California.
Relationships: Princess Bubblegum & Finn the Human & Jake the Dog & Marceline, Princess Bubblegum & Marceline, Princess Bubblegum/Marceline, Wildberry Princess/Marceline
Comments: 33
Kudos: 85





	1. Asbury Park, New Jersey

**Author's Note:**

> I love road trip tropes and i’m suuuuper excited! If you would be so kind as to ignore my juvenile writing style, pretend i didn’t write chapter one in a single draft... that would be lovely!
> 
> Please enjoy the setup to this fantastic story as i try to accurately recall the boardwalks of Asbury Park.
> 
> Disclaimer: I do not own Adventure Time or anything to do with Cartoon Network, i’m simply the biggest fan ever.

Fresh out of high school, Bonnibel Brooks was ready for a little adventure. She’d worked hard to meet the expectations of her Aunt and Uncle. They had always taught her that the key to success was focus— that was how the pair (alongside Bonnie’s mom) had established their own candy company, only to have it grow into an immensely successful business. Bonnie knew that someday she would be running the Candykingdom Confectioners’ operation. She had gotten herself into a business school that she knew she would hate, and she was all set up to inherit the family company. 

At the moment, none of it mattered— Bonnie squinted down the crowded Asbury Park boardwalk, standing in the bright sun and waiting for her (very late) friends. 

Finn and Jake were normally OK with timing, so she suspected they had just gotten distracted. Marceline, however, was chronically late. Bonnie had told Marcy to meet up about a half-hour before she intended to be there, so Marcy should only have been a few minutes late. 

They had decided to meet there at the boardwalk to get ice cream before they began their road trip, but since everyone was late, Bonnie had already ordered her ice cream and eaten it alone. She shifted from one leg to the other and checked her watch. Just as she began to take out her earbuds, a pair of hands grabbed her shoulders from behind! 

Bonnie cried out and jumped a little bit, only to whip around and find Marcy cackling. 

“Very funny,” Bonnie said dryly, once her heart rate slowed to a normal pace again. Bonnie had always been easily startled, and when Marceline discovered that she took every chance she got to play juvenile pranks. 

“I certainly thought so,” Marcy looked at Bonnie over the rim of her round sunglasses and cracked a grin. “It’s good to see ‘ya, Bon-Bon.”

“You too, bloodsucker.” Bonnie softly punched her friend in the arm. 

Marceline had her sticker-covered guitar case and a yellow duffel bag slung over her shoulder. She wore a bright red tee and black cargo pants… something Bonnie marveled at. How could she stand to wear full-length pants in the summertime?

“So the dweeb twins aren’t here yet?” Marcy shook her shoulder-length black hair out of her face and crossed her arms. 

“Nah… Jake usually texts when he’s late, though.”

They remained silent for a minute before Marcy pointed to something at the end of the boardwalk and the sound of voices yelling their names reached their ears. 

Bonnie turned around to witness Finn and Jake Mertens sprinting through a steady stream of tourists, backpacks bouncing on their shoulders. As they got closer, it was apparent that both of Finn’s shoelaces were untied and his knees were freshly bruised. 

When the bumbling duo finally reached Marcy and Bonnie, Jake began to laugh breathlessly while his brother just wheezed, clutching his knees, face towards the ground. Finn held a second large tote bag, which he dropped apathetically. The boys were very athletic so it was surprising that they were both so winded.

“Ugh… sorry we’re… hah… late!” Was the pitiful greeting that Jake choked out. 

“Did you run here all the way from Canada?” Marcy cocked her head to the side. 

“Very… very funny.”

Marcy and Bonnie exchanged looks as they waited for the boys to catch their breath. When they finally seemed to be okay, Bonnie led the group off the boardwalk and towards her car. 

“So did you guys actually pack, or did you throw random clothes into your bags?” Marcy asked as they walked. 

Finn sniffed, pretending to be indignant. “I will have you know that it took us all of thirty minutes to pack for this trip!”

“Do you have money? ID and wallet? Clean changes of clothes? Electronics chargers?” Bonnie probed, making a mental note of the panicked look exchanged by the brothers at the last point. “How about snacks and water bottles?”

Finn grinned proudly as he handed his tote bag to Bonnie. When she inspected it, she found enough water for all of them, snacks of every manner and a baseball. 

“What’s the baseball for?” She asked. 

Finn just shrugged and took the bag back. 

They got to Bonnie’s red Subaru and began to load their gear. Although the trunk was a generous size, marcy still had to stuff her duffle bag in tight on top of Finn’s big green backpack. Bonnie hissed as she touched the hot metal of the car door, which had been baking in the sun. The entire car was humid and stifling, so she went about opening all the windows. 

Marcy set the GPS and the motley crew drove off, away from the boardwalk and towards what they each hoped to be an adventure. 

They were off to the great land of Crescent City, California, where they would stay with Jake’s buddy Prismo and explore the city. This meant something different for everyone: For Finn and Jake, it was about seeing their dear friend. For Bonnie and Marcy, it was mostly about the trip itself and getting to spend time on the road. 

In Bonnie’s car, there were specific rules: the driver drives, the copilot (shotgun) deals with navigation and music, and the backseat passengers are snack dispensers and pay for gas but are free to nap. Everyone would alternate seats to get a turn with picking music and taking naps and so-on. Marcy had taken many road trips in her life and had helped Bonnie to come up with this system. 

They hit the road, blasting Mitski and the Eagles (Marcy was copilot) with the windows down. It was 2 PM and the group was a little too optimistic, considering they hadn’t even booked a motel to sleep for the night.


	2. Cleveland, Ohio

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The youngins realize they’re gonna have to be a whole lot better about their planning if they want consistent showers and beds through the trip. The team visits a cemetery.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> First half is marcy’s perspective 
> 
> *** about halfway through the character perspective changes from marcy to finn

Somewhere outside of Cleveland, the middle of the night

It was midnight and Marcy was driving. She had a twitch going in her eye because she hadn’t had any water in hours and hadn’t looked anywhere other than the road. Jake was a competent copilot but it was hard not to get bored after ten hours behind the wheel. 

“So… we’re all gonna end up sleeping in the car, aren’t we?” Finn asked from the backseat, handing Marcy her lukewarm water bottle. Marcy steered with one hand as she gratefully gulped down as much water as possible. 

“Probably bro… sorry. Looks like Bonbon’s got the right idea,” Jake said, looking over at Bonnie, who had her headphones on and was out cold. 

Marcy had a hard time not looking at her in the rearview mirror. Her bright pink waves of hair were a mess, tangled over her flushed, peaceful-seeming face. Her cheeks were flushed, even in her sleep, and it was so hard to focus on the road when Marcy could be focusing on the way she breathed softly and looked so gentle... Her head was on Finn’s shoulder who, mercifully, hadn’t woken her by moving his arm. 

Jake may or may not have noticed where Marcy’s gaze kept straying as she handed the now-empty water bottle over to him.

“Let’s find a safe place to park for the night,” Jake suggested. “Tomorrow we can go into the city and get doughnuts.” Finn nodded along with this plan, yawning a bit. He had never once said no to a doughnut. 

Marcy perked right up when she thought about Cleveland: “Plus, we can go see that haunted graveyard I’ve heard so much about!” She said, feeling a bit excited. 

Her copilot immediately squirmed at the word “haunted”. 

“I’m sure it’ll be far less spooky than it sounds when we see it in the light of day,” Finn said, patting Jake’s arm. “Marcy, there’s room back here if ‘ya don’t wanna sleep behind the wheel.” 

They found an empty diner parking lot and moved into a space in one corner. For some reason Marcy always liked being in the corner of a parking lot… it felt safer than the center, just like sitting in a booth at a restaurant or sitting at the back of a classroom. 

Jake hopped out as soon as they had parked in order to dig some blankets out of the trunk and Marcy hopped out too, breathing in the night air. Even though they were on the side of a road, it was quiet, save a handful of crickets. Marceline leaned against the side of the car and looked up, away from the single streetlight and away from the parking lot, just towards the sky, speckled with a few dim stars. The light pollution wasn’t nearly as bad as it was in the city, but a few misty clouds had come in at about 8 PM and hadn’t left. 

Finally, Marcy climbed into the backseat and put an arm around Bonnie, pulling her sleeping form off of Finn. Bonnie, in her sleepy state, snuggled up to Marceline. 

Starting when Bonnie and Marcy were in middle school, they had plenty of sleepovers. After a while, Marcy discovered that playing with Bonnie’s hair helped her fall asleep. It was always soft and smelled like shampoo and it was definitely one of Marcy’s weird sensory things that she would get sometimes. 

Bonnie was one of those people who could sleep anywhere. Somehow she never had neck cramps from awkward positions or headaches or anything like that. Marcy was, unfortunately, the exact opposite. While the day’s travels, loud music, road rage and small bickers were enough to decently tire her out, she still had to play with Bonnie’s hair to fall asleep. 

She dozed off with a soft pink wave curled around her finger and the smell of soap and rose perfume clouding her mind. 

-

***check notes 

-

Cleveland, Ohio

Marcy had picked a creepy graveyard as a tourist attraction, Finn had a neck cramp and it was raining all over his burrito… so overall it wasn’t exactly a perfect day. 

Finn loved rainy-day road trips. They were in his top 10 favorite things of all time, and he knew that in about half an hour he would be back on the road and would have an entire box of doughnuts to keep him company, but the graveyard was definitely giving him a weird vibe. 

It was pretty, for sure: misty and gray, the weather turned the otherwise bright green cemetery into a soothing palette of earthy greens and browns and grays. Finn felt little drops of water roll off his strawberry blond hair and into his face, but he didn’t mind: he could towel off his head in the car.

He stood staring at a grave marker: a green corroded copper angel that looked like she was crying. Those were definitely not good vibes. He and Jake had been holding hands the whole time and didn’t plan to stop. 

To most, Jake was a total wuss about this sort of stuff, but Finn knew exactly why: he had grown up with his brother Jermaine telling him horror stories and creeping him out at every opportunity. By the time Finn came around, Jermaine had chilled out and both of his brothers were total dweebs, but Jake never grew out of the fear. 

“To each their own” was normally Finn’s philosophy, but he was pretty wary about this cemetery and sort of agreed with Jake. 

Marcy was like a kid in a candy store. Bonnie just seemed happy that Marceline was enjoying herself. Finn watched the way Bonnie eyed Marcy, wondering what was on the brilliant girl’s mind. For as long as he’d known the girls, they had always looked at each other like that. At first Finn thought it was platonic, but then realized he had never seen another pair of friends look at each other in that way: subtle, hungry secret glances. 

Finn felt his burrito getting soggier by the second. This wasn’t good. Jake squeezed his hand tighter just as a chill ran up his spine: something was rustling in a tree behind them!

Suddenly, a branch snapped and the boys took off towards the exit to the cemetery like Shaggy and Scooby Doo, hightailing it without a backwards glance. 

“We gotta get out of here, man!” Jake yelped. 

“But what about the girls? We left them!” Finn was freaked out too. How could he be so stupid? How could he leave the girls? 

“They’ll be fine, let’s get to the car!” 

-

The girls came back to the car about ten minutes later, Bonnie taking her place in shot-gun and Marcy in the back. 

“Why didn’t you run?” Jake asked, significantly calmer now. 

“It was a cat, you freaks. You just cringe at everything that moves, huh?” Marcy was pretty harsh, but she wasn’t really wrong. 

“Chill, Bloodsucker. We gotta figure out our next move,” Bonnie said calmly. 

“Dinner!” Finn suggested, stuffing a doughnut in his mouth while Bonnie stared at him incredulously. 

“You had a burrito ten minutes ago.”

“Burritos aren’t dinner,” Finn shrugged. 

“Dear lord, okay. How about this: we get dinner and find a motel outside the city. We plan our route tomorrow over dinner and take showers, that sound good?” Jake intervened, already putting the key into the ignition. 

“I could go for a shower,” Marcy agreed, and everyone in the car loudly confirmed. “Geez, guys! At least lie to me for like, thirty more minutes!”


	3. Chicago pt. 1

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Alternate title: the chapter in which the author becomes acutely aware that we need MORE romantic tension between Bonbon and Marcy- 
> 
> The crew ends up in Chicago Illinois where i’ve set everything up perfectly for the girls to have a LOT of cliche gay pining moments!

-Somewhere outside of Cleveland, 4 AM-

Rain and thunder had woken Bonnie up— not that she hadn’t been too heavily asleep before. She and Marceline were sharing one of the two beds in the motel room. For once, Marcy had dropped off to sleep fairly quickly while holding Bonnie’s hand, but Bonnie had tossed and turned and woken up a bunch of times, so when she heard the thunder, she decided she should just get up and listen to the storm. 

She and Marcy had been having sleepovers since middle school. After a few years, Bonnie had started to have… weird dreams, specifically of Marceline. Normally, she was able to ignore them, figuring her subconscious just projected her repressed sexuality onto Marcy, the most familiar part of her life (other than her brother Neddy). Some nights, however, she found herself unable to ignore the dreams, especially if it was a particularly good one. That was always embarrassing. 

Bonnie had a spectacular dream about Marceline and herself, but as soon as she awoke she felt guilty... gross… deviant, almost. She couldn’t deal with that. She sat up in bed and focused on the storm outside, letting it seep into her disturbed consciousness. 

It was actually quite peaceful, the rain tapped rhythmically against the window and the wind could be heard softly gusting against the door and under the creaky wooden awning outside.

The room wasn’t completely dark: the digital alarm clocks on each bedside cabinet and the buttons on the cable box across the room cast faint and fluorescent light against whatever was closeby. Following the light from one such alarm clock was how Bonnie’s eyes fell on Marcy’s face, calm and serene. She liked when Marcy was like that: asleep, unable to pick a fight with Bonnie or embarass Finn or scare Jake (her favorite three pastimes) but she was still right there next to Bonnie. 

It was only when she felt her cheeks get flushed that Bonnie realized she was staring, at which point she quickly turned away and slid off the bed. Slowly, quietly, she set her feet on the floor and crept to the bathroom, flicking on the nightlight as she went in. For a moment, she was startled when she caught a sight of herself in the mirror: the dim light made her bright pink hair appear a dark red.

Bonnie splashed some cold water on her face and ran her wet hands through her tangled hair, savoring the way the cold water felt on her head. She did this sometimes, when she had trouble focusing: it grounded her in the moment. 

A little bit of the dream came back to her: warm breath and soft kisses against the nape of her neck and black hair tickling her skin lightly. She remembered spinning around to find the beautiful body of her friend nude and pressed desperately against her own, fingers tracing unseen lines over her hips and down her thighs… Bonnie shook her head and tried to bring herself back from la-la-land. At this rate, she would go crazy. 

The running of the taps had inadvertently woke up somebody else, who, when she turned off the nightlight and made her way back to her bed, was sitting up and waiting for her. Bonnie jumped when she looked at her bed and saw a dark silhouette sitting on its edge, but then she saw his face in the dim light and relaxed, moving to sit beside Finn.

“You couldn’t sleep either?” Bonnie asked, knowing the guy normally slept like a log and couldn’t have been woken by a tap.

“Barely… when there’s rain like this I would rather sit and listen than sleep through it,” he said softly. “It feels like a waste.”

Bonnie knew exactly what he meant. Back in New England, the weather patterns were erratic and random, and summer rain storms were a beautiful gift that was always thoroughly enjoyed. Summer showers were rare, like getting an actual prize in an arcade claw machine, but the storms were the real treasure.

“I uh… I brought a deck of cards if you wanna play while we listen to the storm,” Finn offered, taking Bonnie’s silence as something awkward, rather than the sleepy lull in conversation that she knew it to be. 

“That would be nice, what are we playing?”

“Hmm…” Finn never liked being the one to decide these things, but Bonnie always made him pick since he knew far less card games than his friend. In his sleepy state, he decided to annoy her. “How about go-fish?”

“Oh come on! You always cheat!” Bonnie groaned. Eventually though, she agreed to play, knowing full well that she would be cheating at it too. 

-Somewhere outside of Cleveland, 8 AM-

“C’mon, people, up and at ‘em!” 

Clanking and crashing and whirring sounded from the bathroom and an unpleasant knocking noise from the door as both Jake and Marcy groaned and covered their ears, barely awake. Bonnie was knocking the handle of her hairbrush against the doorframe —in an attempt to rouse the two half-awake idiots up— while the telltale whir of a hairdryer in the bathroom signified that Finn was getting ready to leave (albeit making much more noise than he meant to, crashing around the bathroom clumsily). 

“Bonbon it- it's too early for this, it’s still dark out!” Marcy grumbled, burying her face in her pillow. 

“I’ve been up for hours, so has Finn. It’s dark because there’s a rainstorm, ” Bonnie explained, yanking the covers off of Marcy. “We need to get moving, at this rate we’ll be in Chicago at three in the afternoon since it takes like, seven hours.”

Jake sat up and chugged the bottle of water at his bedside, looking like he had been hit by a bus. The college student had never been a morning person, but traveling made mornings even worse. Just then, his stomach growled loudly. 

“Jeez, Jake! We gotta get some breakfast, huh?” Finn came out of the bathroom, long hair freshly dried and thoroughly tangled. 

“Hah… you both look like trainwrecks!” Marcy grinned. 

“She’s right, you’re a mess. Finn, c’mere,” Bonnie said amusedly. She smiled as Finn allowed her to brush his hair out and tie it up with one of the hair ties on her wrist. At this point, Finn was used to Bonnie doing his hair. In school his friends would tease him for always having it in some sort of fancy style, but he really liked the braids and cute ponytails. 

Needless to say, he looked mildly disappointed to see a messy (but untangled) bun where there would normally be a 4-strand plait or a braid crown or something equally odd to see on an awkward and gangly teenage boy. 

While all of this happened, Marcy had dragged herself into the bathroom —still half awake— to brush her teeth. After studying her reflection in the mirror for a second, she decided that she had enough eyeliner leftover from the night before to simply splash cold water on her face and call herself ready. 

“So you’re going with the pajama look today, Bonbon?” Marcy teased as she vacated the bathroom in favor of pulling crumpled, balled-up clothes from her duffel bag. 

“You just woke up and you’re already on my ass?” The pink-haired girl groaned. Still, she went over to find her bag and began to look for suitable clothing of her own. She smiled to herself when she saw the ratty old band shirt neatly folded in the bottom of her bag, stowed safely as though it was worth a fortune. 

Marcy peered over Bonnie’s shoulder and cracked a big grin. 

“You should wear that today,” she said. “It’s nice to know you still have it!”

Bonnie couldn’t help but smile when she saw Marcy’s cheshire grin at such a simple thing. 

-

Marcy stared out the car window, half-watching the cars go by on the highway, half-watching the droplets of rain pool together and slide down the glass. The entire highway was misty and silvery-gray… except for the bits of red from passing cars and the sparse greenery by the highway. It was gloomy and stormy and Marcy wouldn't have it any other way. 

She looked over at Bonnie, put-together and perfect looking even in the torn-up old tee that she had received years ago. She wore white sneakers and a light blue skirt, which the tee was tucked into… somehow she made that impossible “soft girl” look work without even trying. Marcy stared at Bonnie’s hands, settled in her lap with one on the phone to which her headphones were connected. 

Marceline had always thought her friend’s hands to be quite elegant, almost alluring. The short, unpainted nails were always cut straight across, because perfect Bonnie never bit her nails like Marcy. The fingers were long and elegant and graceful; the hands of a girl who spent hours a day doing nothing more than turning the pages of a book, which meant her hands were soft and delicate in a way that Marcy’s could never be. 

Marcy looked up to notice Bonnie staring. They locked gazes for only a second before soft brown eyes turned away from harsh, upturned black ones. If Marcy had looked back at Bonnie, she would have noticed a blush to rival her own current one. Had she been paying attention, she also just might have noticed Jake watching the awkward interaction from the rear-view mirror. She would have noticed Jake roll his eyes, exasperated with the fact that Bonnie and Marcy had been doing this for years, never bothering to connect the dots. 

-Chicago Illinois, 9 pm-

The storm had cleared up, leaving the sky speckled with whatever stars could be seen through the city’s light pollution. The sunset had been spectacular, and the sun going down had left a warm but gentle and breezy night for the unruly foursome to enjoy.

“Hey Bonbon, ‘ya happy now that you’re finally here?” Jake asked, elbowing Bonnie lightly in the ribs. 

“Yeah, you only talked about this place through all of lunch,” Fin added helpfully through a mouthful of chocolate cupcake. 

They were at Navy Pier, which Bonnie had wanted to visit for a long while. 

“Hey, if you girls wanna like, actually explore, let's just split up and meet back here in an hour,” Jake suggested. “Finn and I are gonna forage for something to eat.” 

“Yeah… slim pickings here in Chicago!” Finn said severely. 

“I hope you two make it through the night,” Marcy said soberly, “godspeed!” 

Bonnie stifled a snort as she and Marcy linked arms and walked off. They could hear their friends’ loud conversation fading into the background noise that was the chatter of others milling about. 

“Hey maybe we should do brunch!”

“Finn, it’s literally 9 at night!”


	4. Chicago part 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The chapter in which Jake and Finn have a informal brothers therapy session
> 
> In which Finn makes out with the deep-dish pizza of his dreams
> 
> In which we passively learn that Jake has HPV
> 
> In which the author reveals her favorite movie to be The Princess Bride

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Should i start shipping prismo and Jake? I’ll have to mull it over

-Chicago Illinois, 9 pm-

Jake chuckled as he watched Bonnie excitedly drag Marcy off to… god knows where. He and Finn headed back to where Finn claimed he had seen a deep dish pizza place. 

“I’m aiming for all the food groups tonight,” Finn proclaimed.

“And what are those, buddy?” Jake was pretty sure that Finn thought weed was a food group. 

“Does it matter? We got every kind of food here anyways!” 

“Kid, you gotta start eating right,” Jake said, poking his side as they walked. He knew full well that his little brother ate a fairly lean diet when he wasn’t traveling because Jake was always the one cooking for him. 

“Come on Jake, I know you want some pizza as much as I do! We can get it with all the fixin’s…” Finn bribed, as though Jake needed any convincing whatsoever. 

-

“Hey Jake… do you mind if I asked you something?” Finn said, looking at him over an enormous deep dish pizza, wearing a much more sober expression than his usual ludicrous self. 

“Hmm?” Jake prompted, watching his little brother scrunch up his nose, which he always did when trying to find the right words. 

The fluorescent lights overhead cast shadows across Finn, but since he had such a baby face that he didn’t look older like most people did in that light. Jake, on the other hand, looked like he had aged a decade as his face sobered and he watched Finn. He already had dark circles beneath his eyes, and he was pretty sure that taking care of Finn had given him some gray hair— studying long hours away while in college and worrying that Finn was cooking the right things or was even safe just exhausted him, even if he only went to school an hour away. The shadows looked deeper than any twenty year old’s should. 

“You’ve been quiet lately…” Finn said, his voice getting softer. “You’re usually a jackass —in the best way— but this whole trip you’ve been a little off… is something up?”

“Yeah… I guess. Sorry I’ve been weird, i just didn’t really know how to handle it.”

“Is it really bad?” Finn fidgeted with his drinking straw, twirling it around the tip of his finger, watching Jake push his rusty-red hair out of his face. 

“Nah, just school.”

Finn caught his big brother’s eyes. “Dont lie to me, man.”

“Actually,” the strawberry blonde mused, “I’ve seen you like this before… it’s Lady again, right?”

“Ugh… yeah.” 

“Why? You and Lady are normally so good at that relationship junk!”

“We were, because it always used to be one problem at a time, but now it just seems like too much! She’s getting distant, too.”

“Do you… do you want her to be distant?” Finn asked hesitantly.

Jake buried his face in his hands. “No. Maybe… I don’t know! We haven’t even spoken in the last month!” 

“Do you miss her?”

“Like hell. She always brought out the best in me the same way you did… now it just seems overwhelming, though.”

To this, Finn said nothing, simply picking up another slice of pizza and raising his eyebrows at Jake. 

“Okay, I just gotta say it. This is some weak sauce Jake, you need to tell her all of this! Like, actually communicate!”

“I know! I know! But I just feel like everytime I try to talk, I say the wrong thing.” 

“Then keep trying… you guys are amazing together and when she’s had enough time, she’ll come back. Until then, I’m gonna need my brother back.” Finn reached across the table to put his hand on Jake’s shoulder.

Jake’s face looked a decade older at that. 

“What?” Finn asked. 

“It’s not just the Lady thing, man! You aren’t gonna have me back for long…”

“Geez… you’re gonna need to explain that a bit better.”

“You picked that university in Seattle! You’re gonna be on the opposite side of the country!” Jake buried his face in his hands again. 

“Dude. What is it that dad used to say? Uh… ‘every baby bird needs to fall out of the nest’”?

“Dad was a jerk and you know it! Besides, how will I know if you’re eating right and going to bed on time and making smart choices with girls? I can’t do that from two thousand miles away.”

“I’m not a little kid anymore, jake!” Finn lowered his voice a bit when he realized he sounded tense. “Is… is the distance really bugging you this much?”

“I just—“

“Like, i know that you were being moody half because of Lady, but are you really that sure I can’t do this?”

“Finn…” Jake began carefully, “remember in middle school when you got three concussions in a year playing soccer and hockey? Remember your nickname?”

“Ugh… my team called me ‘brain damage kid’ for the rest of middle school! They could’ve picked something more creative at least!”

“I remember when you couldn’t run off to play sports or anything, how I had all that time with you to teach you how to play checkers,”

“Because I never could sit still long enough to learn before…” Finn chuckled. 

“Yeah! And we watched ‘The Princess Bride’ every single day until we could recite the script to each other. We speculated on conspiracy theories and ate enough red licorice to get sick of it in a week and—“

“I still can’t eat red licorice!”

“Hah… well, I learned then how good it was to have a brother. Sure, we had Jermaine, but he had a lot of growing to do, and we always ended up fighting… with you it was a lot easier.”

“I know you’re gonna miss having me around, dude,” Finn cut in. 

“Duh! I got to watch you grow up into the idiot you are today, and now you’re off doing something new, meeting new people, finding friends and family that i’ll never be a part of,”

“Jake, when you first started dating Lady, I hated her. I thought she would take you away from me, but you never stopped making time for me, and she makes you happy! No matter how many miles away, you’ll still be my brother!”

“Fine…” Jake grabbed another slice of pizza. “But when you bring a girl home for the holidays, don't expect me to be civil, capiche?”

“Ugh… sure. I just want you to feel okay, live in the moment for a bit, y’know? Stop worrying, I’m not in college yet, and if family history is any indicator, I won’t end up getting HPV for at least another few months.” This was an insensitive nod to the fact that Jake had contracted HPV (among other things) his freshman year. 

Jake looked up and seemed a lot lighter. He and Finn exchanged a glance and burst out into laughter. 

“Thanks, Finn. I think it felt like a much scarier issue in my head…” 

“What’s it gonna take to cheer you up?” 

“More cupcakes?” Jake said hopefully. 

“That's a brilliant idea.” 

The two left the shop, pretending they had fixed all their emotional problems in one go and, most importantly, pretending they hadn’t eaten an entire deep-dish pizza as an appetizer. 

-

“C’mon Marcy! I see the Centennial Wheel! I’ve always wanted to go on a ferris wheel!” Bonnie gushed, grinning at Marceline, who only blushed at her friend’s infectious smile. 

“Alright… wait! You’ve never been on a ferris wheel?” Marcy asked, coming to a halt. “There’s literally one in the city back home...”

“I was never allowed on rides… my aunt and uncle didn't think it was productive.” Bonnie said sheepishly, before recovering her smile. “Whatever, that’s gonna change tonight!” 

“You’re damn right it is, Bonbon! Lead the way!”


	5. Chicago part 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> ok so the writings trash but read it for the gay pining
> 
> The chapter in which Bonnie and Marcy have a fun self discovery moment 
> 
> In which modern technology fails
> 
> In which the writer gets horny

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *banging pots and pans together*
> 
> GAYS COME GET YALLS JUICE

Bonnie looked nervous when they climbed into their seat on the ferris wheel and flat out afraid when it started moving. Marcy offered her hand, which Bonnie took shakily before looking down as they climbed higher and higher in the air. 

“Hey, Bonbon, don't look down, look out.” She said gently. 

“This seemed like a better idea from the ground…” 

“Just indulge me a moment, ok?” Marcy nudged her encouragingly. 

Bonnie looked up and gasped. 

“See all those lights? It blows my mind every time I remember that each of those lights is somebody at home, living their life.” Marceline said, squeezing Bonnie’s hand. 

The lights of the city twinkled gently, standing out against the blue of homes and streets in the dark. While the ground of Navy Pier was busy and full of the chatter of happy people, the girls’ seat on the ferris wheel was almost quiet, as though they were hearing passersby from underwater. 

Marcy didn’t notice any of it, because she was watching Bonnie as she grinned and stared out to the horizon. Everything about her had Marcy captivated: the way her lips parted a bit when she smiled, the freckles on her cheeks, the way her soft curls and softer eyes made her look like an angel. Moments like this were few and far between because Marcy had never let herself romanticize her friend, forcing it down and ignoring it as she pursued other girls to fill the void… but now, they were in a strange city and it felt like they were miles and centuries away from all of it, and it was just the two of them. 

No more girls whose names she didn’t know in the backseat of her car… no more girlfriends who Marcy hated as much as her dad did… no more messy things like emotions. It was just Bonnie and Marcy. 

That’s what happens to one’s mind when given the chance to float above it all. 

The pink-haired girl turned back to Marcy with twinkling eyes. 

“It’s so beautiful,” Bonnie murmured, moving closer to Marcy, who only felt her cheeks flush more. 

Before she knew what she was doing, before she could think about or filter it, Marcy said it: 

“You’re more beautiful than all of those lights.”

Marcy never said things like that… not to Bonnibel. She said it, only half meaning it, to girls at parties and girls who she knew that come any given monday she might sit across the room from in chemistry class. Marcy never said it and meant it. 

Bonnie was speechless, all she could do was blush harder and look away. Marcy missed the small, hopeful smile she wore. 

They rode the ferris wheel down, and stayed on when it began to move up a second time: all of it seemed to pass in a second as Bonnie watched the horizon with wonder and Marcy looked on. 

The third time they didn’t speak either, simply content to sit in each other’s company. Finally, Bonnie shivered a bit. 

“It’s a little cold up here, huh?” She said, scooching even closer. 

“Erm… here,” Marcy fumbled with the sleeves and hem of her sweatshirt, removed it and passed it to Bonnie, who put it on gratefully. Marcy knew she wouldn’t get that sweatshirt back for the rest of the trip. 

Like sleepovers and other things, sharing clothes was something they had been doing for years, but Marcy never fully got used to it, being so close to Bonnie. It didn’t help that she looked so adorably cozy in the hoodie. 

Twenty two… twenty three… twenty four… 

Marcy found herself counting her heartbeats, which was something she did when she wanted to stuff down her emotions and deal with them later— in this case it was mostly embarrassment, and those awful butterflies that came whenever Bonnie was too close. 

Twenty nine… thirty… thirty one… 

A loud creak shook the ferris wheel and Marcy’s eyes flew open as the ride ground to a halt. 

“Oh my gosh…” Bonnie was definitely about to panic. “Oh my gosh! Are we trapped up here?”

Marcy, once again, let her impulses move her, and she wrapped one arm around Bonnie, using the other arm to scoop up one of her cold hands and press it to her chest. 

“Focus on your heart rate. Focus on me.” She said calmly, locking eyes with Bonnie, who already seemed less freaked out.  
“Breathe in and out evenly. We are okay.” beyond that, Marcy would have to wing it. “Machinery is… imperfect, right? And sometimes things stop, like ferris wheels. At least you’re stuck up here with me, right?”

Marcy could feel Bonnie against her, the other girl was so close. She listened to her breathing become steady and smiled, knowing her friend would be alright and pulling her in a bit closer. She wished that time could freeze right there. 

Out of the blue, Bonnie leaned forward and pressed a kiss to Marceline’s lips, soft and hesitant. She pulled back, blushing for a moment before her eyes grew wide. Marceline tried to speak but all she could do was stutter. 

“I’m so sorry! I should have asked first… i’m—“ Bonnie was on the verge of rambling apologies. 

She was cut off as Marcy pulled her all the way back in, snaking both hands around her waist and kissing her much more deeply, much more fully than before. Bonnie’s soft hands raked through Marcy’s hair as she slung her arms over the other girl's shoulders and Marcy only kissed her deeper. 

Then came the feeling: that feeling that Marceline hadn’t felt since she first began to kiss girls: that sheer passion, the aching need in her chest to melt all the way into her partner. She felt she couldn’t hold Bonnie close enough. The pink-haired girl grinned and giggled against her lips and Marcy felt her heart flutter… Bonnibel was an ocean and Marcy was ready to drown in her. 

Then, the ferris wheel began to move again. The structure groaned quietly and they felt themselves moving down towards the ground again. The girls pulled apart quickly, and Marcy nervously rubbed the back of her head before glancing at her watch: 

9:50

“Crud!” She exclaimed, “the ride’s gonna close soon!” 

“Guess this is our last ride,” Bonnie took her hand gently as they almost reached the ground. 

“C’mon, we gotta go meet Finn and Jake,” Marcy decided , getting out of the ride and trying not to meet Bonnibel’s eyes. 

Bonnie leaned in again, barely less hesitant than the first time, and pressed a tender kiss to Marcy’s cheek.


	6. A motel outside of Chicago

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Finn is, once again, an overly observant little shit and a fantastic therapist
> 
> In which bonnie has a revelation
> 
> In which the story gets angsty

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Im deviating from canon here: in this story Finn and Bonnie have always been super close, but Finn never had any romantic feelings for her. They have a bunch of sleepovers and hang out together alot but there’s nothing beyond platonic intimacy there. 
> 
> Copyright update: disappointingly, I, the author of this lovely and bizarre fanfic, still own none of the Adventure Time series... or Cartoon Network as a whole

4 AM, a motel outside Chicago

-

To absolutely no surprise, neither Marceline nor Bonnibel attempted to discuss what happened on the Centennial Wheel. In fact, they were both pretending it hadn’t happened at all. 

Since they could afford no more than a motel room with only one bed, both Bonnie and Finn had chosen to sleep on the floor. Bonnie figured that she would at least be warm, since Finn was a serious cuddler. 

Of course, Bonnie had a weird dream that night because she was only ever that lucky. 

Since Bonnie and Marcy had, before riding the ferris wheel, briefly visited the funhouse: the dream took place there. 

Bonnie was wandering through a long hall filled with neon-colored lights and panels and warped mirrors. Marcy had approached her from the end of the hall, nude save for her hair —much longer than it was in real life— which covered her like that painting of the birth of Venus. Marcy’s laugh echoed from the walls, even though her face was still, and she reached out for Bonnie’s hand, but when Bonnie tried to grab it, she pulled it away and retreated down the funhouse-like hall, prompting Bonnie to follow. Bonnie chased through the seemingly endless hall, and always one step away, Marcy teased her, until she finally stopped and drew Bonnie in close, beginning to softly kiss her neck. Bonnie put her hands on Marcy’s shoulders and let her eyelids flutter shut.

The world seemed to tilt as Bonnie sat up, eyes wide as she was forced from her dream. She had thrown Finn’s arms off of her and thereby woken him as well (he was a very light sleeper). He stirred a bit beside her before sitting up as well. 

“Is everything alright?” He mumbled, rubbing his palms into his eyes. 

“Yeah… sorry Finn, just go back to sleep,” she said. 

“Nah. you… you’ve been waking up a lot lately Bonbon, are you sure you’re okay?”

Bonnie paused for a moment. If she brushed him off, Finn would bring it up in the morning and Jake or Marcy would find out too. On the other hand, if she told him about the dream, he could help make sense of it… Finn was fairly nonjudgmental and had pretty much helped Bonnie with all her other (non Marcy-related) dream interpretations. 

“Maybe not… wanna talk? Or should we do that in the morning?” She offered, watching as Finn almost nodded off while sitting up. 

“Nope… i’m free right now, besides, last time we hung out early in the morning was really fun, right?” 

“Sure. It’s about…” Bonnie checked her phone, “Four-thirty, so you won’t be losing too much sleep anyways.” 

-

Finn listened patiently as Bonnie told him about her dream. They sat in the stairwell to the second floor of the Motel (so they wouldn’t wake up Marcy and Jake). When Bonnie got around to telling him about the more intimate part of the dream, Finn paused, the joint he had been smoking was lingering at his lips, he held it loosely as though he had forgotten about it. 

“Then, just as dream-me was getting really… erm… excited, I woke up.” Bonnie finished, trying not to look as humiliated as she felt. With nothing left to mention, she took to smoking in silence, coughing lightly when she breathed in too much. 

Finn just looked at her in incredulity. 

“You ask me to help interpret your dreams a lot; your brain is a new kind of bizarre, but this one… this one seems pretty obvious.”

At Bonnie’s blank face, he barked a harsh laugh. 

“Bonbon, you’re so smart, but right now you couldn’t be dumber. Even I know that you’re in love with Marcy, and I’m completely clueless! You’ve been looking at her the way you do for years and, newsflash: She looks at you the exact same way!”

“Finn, you’re high… there’s no way I… no way she…” Bonnie’s normal eloquence was rendered useless. 

“For the record, I wasn’t high all the times I saw you two uselessly pining. I remember when we were in middle school and you told me you thought you might be gay… I remember connecting all the dots and I started seeing your friendship with Marcy way more clearly.” Finn said sagely, hitting his joint without breaking eye contact with Bonnie. 

“But I—“

“Think, bonbon! All the other girls didn’t look at each other that way… remember when Marcy started dating? All the hearts she broke had something in common…”

That’s when it clicked for Bonnie. 

“They were all like me… all closeted girls with a GPA more than double Marcy’s, they all had the same personality. She moved from one girl to the next like she was looking for something…” She reflected. 

“Yup. And they were all pastel and preppy and cutesy… but it doesn’t take a genius like you to figure out that this isn’t one-sided.” Finn studied Bonnie’s expression carefully. 

“I thought I was just repressed or something…”

“Guilt is a damn powerful thing, huh?”

-

At about 6, Finn decided to take a shower so he wouldn’t smell like weed the whole day, a liberty he took because he knew that the four of them would be stuck in the same hot car for hours. 

He futzed with the taps until he figured out how to turn the shower on… that was always his least favorite part of traveling: the strange taps. When he finally got the temperature he wanted (as cold as possible) he settled under it and let the water run through his hair as the chill sank into his scalp. 

For awhile, Finn just sort of stood there with his head hung forward, eyes open as the water cascaded over his brow and ran down his cheeks. 

It was hard to understand everything that was happening and, truth be told, Finn was pretty darn scared. He had to watch Bonnie get a little sadder everyday as she resigned herself to go to a business school she hated. Finn had a front row seat as Bonnie finally came to terms with the love of her closeted life and finally started to accept herself. Something about this trip had changed her, Finn figured. 

He had to watch Marcy (even if they weren’t the closest pair in the group) flounder as she tried to figure out her next move right at the buzzer… what she wanted to do with her life, where she wanted to go, all of it was a mystery. Finn knew that the young playboy lesbian felt lost. She had grown up lonely and she still hadn’t healed from it and now any semblance of normalcy was all but void. Marcy was desperately pining for bonnibel, but so petrified of losing her best friend that she didn’t dare say anything. 

Jake was jealous and lost, neglecting his girlfriend of nearly four years because he couldn’t stand the inevitable: his baby brother was leaving him. When Jake had begun college, he had always taken the hour-long commute except the days of tests and exams, when he stayed with his friends. Even when he did, he would video chat Finn, fussing like a mother hen at every chance he could get. Finn was going to school in Seattle, anxious to put down roots in a new place, to have new beginnings and get a chance to see the world in a new way. It was a big deal for both brothers, but Finn wasn’t as anxious about it as Jake.

For teenagers, this was their dramatic reality, but for Finn (as high as he was) looking at this in a non-objective way, he saw that they were all just different brands of sad. 

When Finn was finished in the shower and got out, he found Bonnie waiting for him with a hairdryer and brush. 

“I figured it would be nice for me to do your hair… it’s been a while,” she volunteered with a grin. 

Finn stood in front of the small, rectangular mirror and held the dryer while Bonnie slowly worked through the tangles in his long hair. It dried soft and fluffy as she brushed it out, and Finn let her begin to braid it back from his face as he studied her focused expression in the mirror. Bonnie couldn’t help it: she always looked a little sad. It was just her resting face, but Finn noticed the same quality in her face as Jake. When she wasn’t wearing makeup or bossing people around, she looked a lot older than she was: not from growing up too fast like Jake, but from never having a chance to be a kid in the first place. 

After about ten minutes, Bonnie tied off Finn’s hair and gestured dramatically. 

“Voila!” She exclaimed, allowing Finn to turn his head side-to-side and admire the french braids adorning each side of his strawberry blond head. 

“Thanks bonbon! Ready to wake the others up?” Finn asked, heading to the door. 

“If only we had some pots and pans to bang together…”


	7. Middle of who-cares-where

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A marcy and jake chapter
> 
> Gratuitous but frustrating marcy x nobody in particular smut

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> the songs that inspired this chapter are “instead of my room” by Charlie Burg and “bad idea!” By girl in red. 
> 
> I watched a lot of softcore porn as “research” for this
> 
> Yes, “lucy” is LSP, as well as who I consider to be Marcy’s first meaningless hookup 
> 
> And “willa” is wildberry princess, i thought it would be good as a random and arbitrary pairing

The group stopped early for lunch at a dilapidated old diner in the middle of who-cares-where. About halfway through the meal, Bonnie up and left the diner and Finn followed after her close. She and Marcy had been pointedly ignoring each other since the ferris wheel. Jake and Marcy shared a bemused look before Jake continued eating from his enormous plate of fries. 

Marcy knew that Jake was a tad bit afraid of her. She didn’t know if it was the bass and black lipstick and surliness or the fact that he’d seen her get in a fistfight with Lucy, a girl back home who only ever started trouble. Jake and Marcy didn’t talk much, but they were closer than Marcy and Finn, Jake being Marcy’s first go-to for arbitrary emotional support. He talked to her about his own relationship issues and helped her keep her girlfriends for more than a week at a time. As far as Marceline was concerned, the two of them were solid. 

Naturally, Jake offered no judgemental looks when Marcy caught their waitress giving her a blatantly flirty look, and pretended not to notice when Marcy flirted back, undressing the young woman with her eyes. 

“Can I get you two anything else?” The purple-haired waitress offered as she came over to their table. Her nametag told Marcy and Jake that her name was Willa. 

“Uh… yes, could you show me where the bathroom is, please?” Marcy asked. Jake failed to mention that there was a door clearly marked “bathroom” in plain sight across the room. It’s not like Marcy hadn’t done this before. 

Marcy grabbed Jake’s shoulder and leaned down to murmur “be back in twenty… maybe thirty,” in his ear. He paid it no mind as the two young women went off… in the opposite direction of the bathroom. 

Jake knew better than to read into it too much. Occasionally Marcy would share obscene details of her flings, (usually to brag or make Finn and Jake laugh) but for the most part the sexually charged young woman wasn’t prone to sharing. 

The young man sipped at his coffee serenely and pulled out his phone. He thumbed through his text messages until he found his and Lady’s last conversation from a month and a half back. It had ended with her texting “k” and a waving emoji. Jake wanted to text her so many things: “i miss u”, “i saw a cute dog in the car next to us”, “how are you doing?”, but he didn’t know how to start.

Besides, he wasn’t sure that texting was gonna fix any of their issues and he didn’t want to call her in the middle of a diner. His best bet was to check the news and forget about it. 

-

(Explicit content warning)

“I’m going on break, Ted!” Willa yelled to her co-worker behind the counter, who nodded curtly and didn’t look up from the milkshake he was making. 

She led Marcy by the hand with a smirk into the supply closet marked “staff only” and shut the door behind them. 

Willa was short and plump, with cherubic pink cheeks and curly bright purple hair. Marcy easily pushed her against the wall and allowed herself to be pulled into a soft, sensual kiss. The two tangled their limbs together as Willa removed Marcy’s jacket and shirt easily, never breaking the kiss. As they made out the kisses got rougher, more desperate. Willa pressed her body against Marcy’s and bit her lip. Marcy finally broke the kiss. 

To her, hookups like these were the best kind: no talking, no loose ends and Marcy was free to pretend that the girl she was with was Bonnibel. 

Marcy began to kiss down Willa’s neck and, reaching her chest, unbuttoned the top of her uniform. Willa threw her arms around Marcy’s shoulders and bit her lip as Marcy removed her bra, palming her soft breasts gently. 

Marcy took one of Willa’s swollen nipples in her mouth and swirled her tongue around it, rewarded with a breathy little moan. She brought her hands to Willa’s thighs and bit at the skin on her stomach until she left a dime-sized hickey. Willa’s hands ran gently through Marcy’s hair and played with it, twisting little bits around her fingers. 

Marcy, ever pragmatic, chose to skip the drawn-out foreplay. She pulled Willa’s panties down her legs and stroked her thighs gently, drawing her hands ever closer to her warm cunt. Marcy ran her thumb over the wet lips and back down the thighs again, teasing Willa a bit. 

Willa was wonderfully responsive when Marcy finally brought her tongue to her cunt, moaning eagerly as Marcy trailed her tongue along the entrance, torturously slow. Finally, she parted the soft lips and plunged a finger inside. Willa gave a satisfied hum as her partner listened attentively to each little noise, moving her finger slowly to find the right spot, all the while Willa had been moving her hips slowly down onto Marceline’s hand. A little gasp told Marcy that she had found what she had been looking for. 

She moved her finger rythmically, and when Willa bucked her hips, she added another finger, repeating the slow beckoning motion as she allowed Willa to practically fuck herself against Marcy’s hand. Willa’s moans were getting higher, and Marcy could swear that she had started sounding a bit like Bonnie… or at least how she assumed Bonnie might sound during sex. 

Marcy pressed her lips against Willa’s clit and sucked it, listening to the girl’s cry of pleasure as she rode Marcy’s hand more intensely. Marcy was lost in the lewd sounds of Willa’s pussy moving against her fingers and the sounds of her voice. Whether or not she liked it, this stranger was moaning in Bonnie’s voice. 

“Oh… yes! I- oh!” Willa murmured an incoherent string of words as Marcy sucked her clit more intensely and felt her walls clench as she approached her edge. Marcy repeated the beckoning motions with her fingers harder and faster. 

Willa came with a moan and a shudder, letting Marcy hold her up against the door as she recovered from her climax, kissing her softly and messily. 

“I uh… i suppose I should return the favor, then,” she said when she had caught her breath and regained composure and control over her noodle-limbs. Her voice was deeper now, less like Bonnie’s. 

“Sure,” Marcy murmured, switching places with Willa, who got on her knees and held the back of Marcy’s thighs. Marcy dragged the fingers of one hand through Willa’s purple hair while she held the other (less clean) hand behind her neck. 

Hands were moving across Marceline’s thighs… she was being teased just as she had done to her partner before. She shut her eyes and thought of Bonnie, almost effortlessly. She had done this a hundred times before: getting lost in her own head as she pretended the sensations upon her body were Bonnie’s own hands and gentle lips. The head upon which her hand rested was now wavy and bubblegum pink. The hands upon her thighs were now slender and soft, the tongue upon her cunt was now that of her best friend. 

Willa moved her tongue gently across Marcy’s folds and swirled around her clit… far too softly but so deliciously slow. Marcy began to moan quietly. 

“Oh… b-Bonnie… Bonnibel!” Marcy murmured, and clapped a hand to her mouth. Willa looked up at her for a minute, but Marcy couldn't meet her eyes. 

“Who’s Bonnibel?” She asked, indignant and disgruntled as she stood up, re-buttoning her top and adjusting her skirt. 

“I- uh… I…” Marcy had nothing to say. She simply watched as Willa pushed past her and left the storage closet. 

-

Jake had only just paid the bill when he saw the waitress storm into the kitchen and he watched the door she exited from as Marcy followed. She looked pissed.

He stood up and jogged to catch up to her as she stormed towards the exit. 

“Hey! Are you okay?” He asked as he caught up to her, halfway to the car. She just looked at him and shook her head. 

The telltale click of a lighter found Bonnie and Finn sat on the pavement on the other side of the red Subaru, passing a joint between them. 

“Let’s get back on the road,” was all Marcy said to them as she climbed into the back seat and crammed her earbuds in. 

Jake noted the way Marcy blushed when Bonnie met her eyes.


	8. Eau claire, Wisconsin

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Bonnie mourns her future
> 
> In which Jake is wayyy too wise for the jackass he is
> 
> In which we meet the one and only neddy

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Copyright update: yup! You guessed it! I still own JACK SHIT
> 
> As usual, the chapter was written over the course of a single semi-depressive episode and had undergone exactly NO beta reading. You’re welcome.

The motel was fine… not particularly nice or fancy, but very clean and basic. There was, once again, one bed. Bonnie decided she would be sleeping on the floor again with Finn, who didn’t mind at all. 

Marcy left to check out the motel’s hot tub and Jake was god-knows-where when it was once again just Bonnie and Finn: the dream team. 

“Ugh… did you see the way she looked at me when she left the room?” Bonnie gave a muffled groan, sitting on the bed and burying her face in her hands. 

“Yeah, I don't know what that was about,” Finn added unhelpfully. 

“Why does she hate me?”

“Please, bonbon! She’s Marcy! She’s moody and annoying and erratic, she’ll come back to you on her own.”

“I wouldn't be so sure!” Bonnie lifted her head and when Finn caught her eyes, they looked sadder than ever. “I feel like an idiot… I didn’t tell you this but… I kissed her on the Ferris wheel two days ago.”

“Oh… you guys haven’t talked since then?” Finn sat down next to Bonnie. 

“No! She hasn’t even looked at me since then! I fucked up and ruined EVERYTHING.”

“You didn’t… I’m sure you’ll be okay!” Finn tried to comfort her, but he couldn’t respond with anything less lame than a limp side-hug. 

“This… this isn’t what was supposed to happen! I was just supposed to have fun with my friends and see the country before…” Bonnie stopped there and Finn noticed how blank her face was. 

“I’ve spent my whole fucking life trying to be perfect!” She spat. “Since I was born, I was indoctrinated in this… this role that I didn’t even choose! I sold my soul to get to where I am and I don’t even like it!” Bonnie’s words were harsh but her face was still blank. 

“I just want to be happy. My aunt and uncle say that I’m lucky to have been born as fortunate as I am but I don’t wanna be another… another corporate robot made miserable—” Bonnie’s words caught in her throat and she sobbed. Finn watched as tears ran down her cheeks, astonished. She almost never cried. 

“The worst part? I’m losing all of you guys at once… you’re going to Seattle and Jake’s gonna be away too and I’ve made Marcy hate me!” Bonnie sobbed as Finn reached out to pull her into a full hug and let her cry into his shoulder. 

“I fucking love her, but I would undo it all just to get her back.”

“C’mere,” Finn said, stroking her back gently, “you’re gonna be okay bonbon… that’s right, you’re gonna be fine.” 

-

At least the motel had a pool… and even a hot tub. Sure, the water features were pretty sketchy but they were good enough for Marceline, who busied herself with brooding in the jacuzzi. 

“So… are you gonna tell me what happened with that hot waitress or are you just gonna boil yourself in silence?” Jake approached Marcy slowly and casually, wearing a towel around his neck, a white t-shirt and swim shorts with a banana peels pattern on them. 

She stayed silent while he settled in next to her and leaned his head back against the edge of the tub, allowing himself to relax fully against the jacuzzi jets. 

“Fine…” Marcy said after far too long a pause. “I guess I should probably unpack all of this with someone.”

“That's the spirit!” Jake said cheerfully, giving Marcy a gentle, playful elbow in the side. 

“So… we were in the supply closet… doing it, and I finished her off, but when she went to return the favor, I sorta-“ Marcy cut herself off there with a heavy blush and sigh. 

“Come on, what happened?”

“I… I said someone else’s name,” she muttered, looking absolutely humiliated. 

“Bonnie...” Jake said sagely, not even pretending to phrase it as a question. Marcy looked up at him, surprised and embarrassed as he just stared at her. “Ya aren’t slick, kid. Finn and I figured it out a while ago.”

“You’re kidding me!” 

“To be fair, Bonnie seems to be the last to know… other than you, of course.” 

“Well, it’s never gonna go anywhere now! I ruined it with her!” Marcy looked livid, but her voice sounded defeated. 

“Look Marcy, this isn’t gonna last forever. You guys are going to talk again, you’re tight! Whether or not this goes anywhere between you two, it’s gonna take a lot more than one little silent treatment to split you apart.” 

“Sure but… what if things change between us? What if she starts seeing me differently?” 

Jake barked out a harsh laugh before regaining control of himself. He had the decency to look self-conscious as he attempted an explanation: “look, Marcy; she’s gonna see you differently no matter what. She knows you’re into her, sure, but she also knows that you went and fucked someone else. How does that foster any trust in you?” 

“Ugh…” Marcy sunk half her face into the water until only her eyes were above the surface, like a crocodile. 

“I know Bonnie well enough to know that right now she’s hurt and confused and worried. You give her too much credit. I mean, she’s smart and all but she’s not particularly smart emotionally, ya know?” Jake reached out to pet the top of Marcy’s damp head. “I bet right now she thinks she did something wrong.”

“Jake… how do I fix this?”

“Fuck if I know, kid, but i think you should stop punishing her for your own fears.”

-

The familiar little tone of an accepted facetime request sounded as a pink-haired young man appeared on Bonnibel’s screen. 

“Heeeey BonBon!” Bonnie’s brother Neddy said warmly. The greeting was well-meant but it just made Bonnie want to cry: she wanted to reach through the screen of her phone and hug him. 

Neddy was Bonnie’s older brother by only a year, but he had moved away from their aunt and uncle half a decade ago— the two were unbearable because they acted like martyrs for raising him since he had clinical anxiety. He only lived a neighborhood away because he couldn’t stand to leave Bonnie behind. Oftentimes she would sneak out on weekends when her aunt and uncle wouldn’t notice and sleep in Neddy’s bed like she used to do when they were little (on the opposite sides of the bed, struggling all night in a semi-conscious battle for custody of the blanket). 

“Hi Neddy! How are things back in New Jersey?” 

“I uhhhh… I got some bad news.” Neddy looked worried and a bit scared to tell her. “Sooooo… Gumdrop died.”

Bonnie’s heart stopped. Gumdrop was the stray cat that she and Neddy had found years ago. When they took him in he was shy and skinny, but after only a month he got used to them and proved his true colors as a friendly, loving idiot. For years, Gumdrop had been the light of Neddy’s life. 

“Shit, Neddy. I wish there was something I could do…” Bonnie REALLY wanted to cry now. 

“It’s okay. He was ready to go. He was sick for awhile so I guess this is better for him.” Bonnie had never seen Neddy so zen about death before. He had panic attacks about deaths on the news. 

“Are you okay?” Bonnie probed, totally unsure what to do. 

“Yeah… I think I just need some time to adjust. I’m still not used to just walking through the house without something fuzzy trying to trip me off my feet.” 

The two looked at each other and snorted. 

“I miss you so much, Bonnie. I wish I could hug you.”

“I miss you too! I don’t remember the last time we went this long without seeing each other!” Never. They had never gone this long without seeing each other. Normally it was accompanied by weird fights and Neddy’s constant stream of insufferable dad jokes, but Bonnie had a tendency to feel alone in a crowded room, and she never felt alone with Neddy. 

“Ugh, you drive me so crazy but the house feels empty without you and your stupid science projects.” Bonnie rolled her eyes. “Neurotic Neddy” (Finn’s nickname for him) wouldn't eat the ends of a hot dog and yet he was still on her ass about her experiments.


	9. Still in wisconsin

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Heehoo guess who went all gung ho on the smutty scenes again! This time its just Marcy and her dirty self because i refuse to write a sexy scene without her. So cw: very angry masturbation. Marcy once again doesn’t get to finish cuz I’m a sadist.
> 
> Yeah, marcy and bonnie are gonna talk it out eventually buuuuuut I’m milking the drama for all its worth first.
> 
> This chapter is pretty short so if u don’t want solo stuff then just don’t read it I guess.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Copyright update: still, i own nothing. This is why we need communism :) 
> 
> Not beta read... anyone willing to help a gal out, drop your email in the comments. (See, thats the great thing about being an unpopular writer is that nobody else is gonna give a fuck about ur email)

“Bad news, guys!” Finn announced as he walked into the motel room with both arms filled with bagels and other such breakfast supplies as he deemed necessary. “Mudslide warning on our route, roads aren’t safe today.” 

A collective groan sounded around the room. Almost everyone was still in bed (or in Bonnie’s case, on the floor) still, nobody was happy with this. 

“I’m going back to bed then!” Marcy snarled before turning over in bed and cocooning herself. Finn and Jake exchanged a glance that was only used on the worst of days: “WARNING: moody Marcy, avoid at all costs!”

Bonnie pulled herself to her feet and headed for the bathroom, ready to take what would end up being an hour-long shower. 

-

Marcy picked lazily at the strings of her bass. She was alone in the room since Finn, Jake and Bonnie had all gone out to check out the motel fitness center. Her ears were ringing a little bit and she was more than pissed, but she had no clue why. Why now was she angrier at herself than right after she had ruined things?

She sat with her fuzzy sock-clad feet dangling over the edge of the bed as she rhythmically but painfully slammed one of her heels against the metal bed frame. Marcy was helpless when she was like this— impotent and strung out like a repressed virgin in a strip club. Sure, she was angry a lot, but usually at others. 

Her phone was dead and she couldn’t start day drinking so there was nothing to do but continue to stew in her own fury and shame…

Almost nothing.

It’s not like she COULDN'T masturbate, she had caught Jake at it just last night. Logistically, not a problem: everyone else was busy. 

Marcy hadn’t gotten off when she hooked up with Willa, and she hadn’t had a chance since then. Those moans and the way she had sounded like Bonnie drove her crazy… also, being angry really turned her on. 

“Horniness really is ruining me, huh?” She muttered to herself as the impulse crossed her mind. She ignored it and continued to pick at her strings, but her brain helpfully started to supply quick and blurry imaginings of Bonnie; replays, really, of the gross little fantasies she’d been allowing herself.

This went on for only a few minutes before she strummed a sour note, she put her bass aside and pulled her legs up onto the bed. She hesitated for a moment: was she really about to do this? Get off to dirty thoughts of her best friend who probably didn’t even like her that way? Was she really so turned on by her own shame and guilt? 

Yeah. Yeah she was. 

Marcy tugged at the elastic waist of her shorts before plunging her hand in and grazing her inner thighs. She tensed up pleasurably at how her freezing cold fingers felt against the warm skin. She was already wet, so when her fingers reached her soft folds and began to stroke with slow, fluid motions, she sighed and closed her eyes. 

This wasn’t so bad.

After a while of teasing herself, she finally reached down a bit and pressed her thumb to her cunt, dragging it all the way back up before repeating the motion. 

Lewd thoughts of Bonnie filled her head as she tended to her inner labia and Marcy whimpered when she finally touched her clit. Her breath got heavier as the strokes grew more rhythmic and Bonnie’s voice rang in her ears.

She leaned her head back and allowed herself to get lost in the ringing in her ears and her heartbeats, which were coming in threes. They were hard and fast like tossing ocean waves. There was a certain meditation to be found in the sensation and repetition, Marcy allowed herself to drink it all in.

Thump. Thump.

Marcy was startled out of her haze when she heard footsteps at the motel door and she quickly pulled her hand from her pants and swung her legs off the side of the bed. She heard the lock click open and a second click from the doorknob. 

Her cunt ached and she was still turned on (possibly more so at being walked in on) as none other than Bonnibel herself entered the room with the boys at her heels. All three were sweaty and grinning, but as Bonnie saw Marcy her smile dropped. She was still glowing with an obvious endorphin rush but, once again, she wouldn’t meet Marcy’s eyes. She headed immediately to the shower. When Bonnie was depressed, she would take about three showers a day— a habit she’d had for years.

Marcy awkwardly wondered what to do with her fingers… she hesitated before shoving her hand under her thigh in an attempt to wipe it off on the bed sheet. 

Finn crossed over to the window and grabbed his backpack to change. Jake, who looked like he had just run a marathon in the sun and was arguably the sweatiest of the three, sat down heavily beside Marcy and waggled his eyebrows. 

“What?” She snapped as she looked at his shit-eating face.

“Oh, nothing…” 

“You smell like pussy.” Finn supplied with a graceless snort.


	10. fine. gays come get yalls juice.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> the writer has officially stopped being a useless bum. bonnie and marcy talk.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, fine! I’ll make them make up! (And maybe make out idefk)
> 
> Finn is my favorite character. You can tell by the blatant favoritism. 
> 
> I listened to Ellie Goulding’s “close to me” on loop while writing this.

It was drizzly and miserable outdoors. Well, to be fair, with the girls icing each other out it was miserable indoors too. Everything was soaked and, for a summer's day, surprisingly chilly. Something was sucking all the warmth out of the air and nobody could be sure if it was emotional or meteorological anymore.

Marcy sat quietly on her bed, headphones on, hunched over her phone with the closed body-language to end all closed-body language. Bonnie was pretty much the same way— so utterly downtrodden that Finn couldn’t stand to look at her.

So he had decided to go out about half an hour previously and he took Jake with him. He didn’t say when they’d be back. Neither girl had given it much thought.

Marcy was staring at a blank phone screen. Her mind had been rewinding what Jake said the other night, over and over. 

“You need to stop punishing Bonnie for your mistakes.” 

Damn him. 

Marcy snuck an anxious glance at Bonnie. She was sitting with legs crossed in the single chair in the room, knees on the arms of the ugly thing. She was scrolling slowly on her phone and very obviously trying to give “fuck off” vibes. Marcy had to fix this. 

“Hey Bonnie?” Marcy said quietly, putting her phone down and taking off her headphones. 

Bonnie ignored her. Marcy slid off the bed and decided to try again.

“Bonnie,” She persisted a bit louder, “Bonnie we should talk. I think maybe it’s time?”

The look she got was withering.  
—

“I wonder how the girls are doing…” Jake voiced, cutting the odd silence between Finn and himself. 

The brothers were across town in an adorable little cafe eating the slowest lunch they possibly could in hopes that forcing Bonnie and Marcy together would help them sort things out. 

“I’m kinda nervous. You know how Bonnie is… she might lash out or something,” Finn muttered into his ham sandwich. He had been staring out the window watching people scurry around the sidewalks, hiding beneath their raincoats and umbrellas as the gloomy skies' rumbles were audible even from indoors.

“Well they’re just gonna have to deal. It’s time for them to start acting like big girls again. This road trip was supposed to be fun!” Jake shrugged. Maybe Jake was right... this trip had been for all of them and Marcy and Bonnie had comandeered it with their stupid hormones and turned it to a trainwreck.

“That’s right! We weren’t supposed to be learning stuff!” 

“That’s the spirit, little bro,” Jake grinned and reached across the table to ruffle Finn’s hair, which he hadn’t braided or tied back. Finn found himself grateful that there was a table between them, preventing any possible noogies. 

Bonnie and Marcy would have to figure out one hell of an apology for this one. Though alone time with his big brother was always nice, there was nothing like the four of them sharing a laugh.

\--

“What do you want, Marceline?” Bonnie finally huffed after Marcy kept bothering her. 

“Well I thought that was pretty obvious,” Marcy started to say, before remembering that their rapport was, at the moment, nonexistent. Reign it back in, no sarcasm. “Sorry Bonnie… I just wanna talk.”

Bonnie just snorted, but she put her phone down and looked at Marcy expectantly. She made it blatantly clear that she was waiting for some grand gesture from Marcy, but at least she was willing to listen. 

“I’m uh… I’m really sorry about what happened,” Marcy said lamely, trying not to let the fact that she was blushing distract her. Bonnie looked at her strangely, like Marcy was gum on her shoe. It made her stomach churn. 

“Which part? The part where you went M.I.A. after I kissed you, or the part where you fucked another girl the very next day like nothing happened?” She hissed. The venom in her voice made Marcy cringe.

“Yes. uh… both. I’m sorry about all of it. I was just-” 

“Nope. Stop there. Good apologies don’t end in ‘justs’ or ‘buts’. Quit while you’re ahead,” Bonnie said. This just made Marcy mad. If Bonnie hadn't freaked out, they could have worked it out originally and never gotten into this shitshow. 

“I’ll remind you,” Marcy snapped, “that I wasn’t the only one giving a silent treatment!”

“You were the only one who fucked another girl, though!” 

“I just wanted to forget!” Marcy shouted, “I just wanted to forget because you went so, so quiet and I was scared!” 

“Well you picked the worst possible way to forget, then!” Bonnie matched her volume and rose from the armchair, fists clenched. "Not that I'd expect a better decision from you, though."

"Excuse me?" 

"You heard me!" Bonnie sneered, "You've never once cared about any of the girls you've been with. I don't know what I thought I was doing."

"Well at least I've bothered with other people! At least I don't think I'm so much better than everyone else, that trying is beneath me!" Marcy felt a twinge of guilt as Bonnie's lower lip quivered like she was about to start crying. Despite this, Bonnie straightened up and clenched her fists tighter.

"Says the one who fucked another girl the day after kissing their best friend!"

“Aren’t you done lording that over me?” Marcy groaned. 

“Not until you’re done being a cunt!” 

“Oh I’m the cunt! After all the measures you took to avoid me just because you couldn’t handle kissing another girl!” 

Don’t cry. Don’t cry, Marcy. DONT. CRY.

“I just couldn’t handle kissing you!” Bonnie shouted. Yup. That was enough to make Marcy cry. Goddamnit. But Bonnie wasn’t done: “why the fuck were you so freaked out about kissing me? You kiss girls all the time! Why the fuck was this time any different?”

“Because I’ve never been in love before!” 

Marcy realized what she just said as shock took over Bonnie, her eyes were wide and she suddenly looked pale and vulnerable, like all of the anger had dissolved suddenly. 

Marcy Staggered backwards to sit down on the bed, wishing she could hide her face forever. Now she’d really done it. Now Bonnie knew. Now Bonnie would hate her even more. 

Shit. shit. Shitshitshitshit. Fuck.

“I-” Bonnie was speechless too. “I Just…”

She sat back down too and both girls curled into themselves, trying to hide. The silence in the room was deafening.

Marcy wished she could break the silence... she wished She or Bonnie would just speak. Even if Bonnie started yelling at her again, anything would do. anything was better than this.

“I’ve never been ashamed of being gay,” Bonnie said quietly. “But only one person ever really made me feel anything. Nobody else impressed me.”

“What do you mean?” Marcy looked up at Bonnie’s tear-streaked face despite herself. Even though they had been fighting, it hurt her more than anything to know that she’d made Bonnie cry.

“I… I love you Marcy.” 

She met her eyes and Marcy just started crying harder. She couldn’t help it. 

"I'm so sorry Bonnie. I didn't mean to make you cry," her throat felt thick as she stifled another sob. "I never meant to make you hurt. I just didn't know what to do. I'm sorry."

Bonnie loved her. But she's screwed things up so badly. 

Bonnie rose from her chair once more and sat beside Marcy on the edge of the bed, leaning into her and taking Marcy’s hands in her own. She kissed Marcy’s curled fist gently and let her cry. Bonnie couldn’t stop her tears or hold back a sob as the two leaned on each other and held each other close and let the silence swallow them.


End file.
